Litigation Updates

North Carolina is the latest state to follow suit and improve medical rationing protections for people with disabilities as COVID-19 outbreaks continue to surge throughout the nation. Disability Rights North Carolina (DRNC) and The Arc of North Carolina filed a complaint alleging the state's scarce medical resource plan illegally deprioritized people with disabilities in the allocation of lifesaving care. CPR was proud to partner with these organizations and our national coalition of disability advocates such as The Arc of the United States, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, Autistic Self Advocacy Network and Samuel Bagenstos. In response to the complaint, North Carolina revised its “Protocol for Allocating Scarce Inpatient Critical Care Resources in a Pandemic” to comply with federal disability rights laws and ensure that people with disabilities will not encounter discrimination. Together, we continue to protect and guarantee equitable access to life-saving care to individuals with disabilities.

The case of Wilkes v. Lamont was filed in response to COVID-19 deaths and unsafe conditions in two of Connecticut’s state psychiatric hospitals, Connecticut Valley Hospital and Whiting Forensic Hospital.  In the spring COVID-19 surge, five patients died and scores of patients and staff were infected. The Plaintiffs, five hospital patients, asked the U.S. District Court to require state officials, including the Governor, to improve infection control at the hospitals, limit admissions, and accelerate discharges.

First Circuit agrees Plaintiffs' are eligible for an award of attorney's fees and costs in longstanding Massachusetts Medicaid EPSDT case on behalf of thousands of children with SED .

A federal judge denied the Motion to Dismiss in State of Georgia v. The Georgia Advocacy Office, the case filed by CPR and its partners alleging that the State of Georgia discriminates against thousands of public school students with disabilities by providing them with a separate and unequal education via the Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Supports Program (GNETS). As a result, we can now move ahead in our efforts to demonstrate that the GNETS system violates the rights of students with disabilities under the ADA, Section 504, and the U.S. Constitution.

Today we filed a brief in the federal court of appeals in our Massachusetts children’s mental health case, on behalf of 30,000 children with serious emotional disturbance (SED). We argued that the court should not end monitoring and oversight of its remedial order designed to address ongoing violations of the Medicaid Act. Since children are still waiting weeks, if not months for intensive home-based services, that enable them to remain in their own homes and communities, the state is not in compliance with either federal law or the remedial order.

CPR and its co-counsel have reached a settlement with the State of Ohio in Ball v. DeWine, an ADA/Olmstead case filed in 2016 on behalf of thousands of people with intellectual disabilities who were unnecessarily segregated in large, congregate Intermediate Care Facilities (ICFs).

CPR assisted on two amicus briefs filed on behalf of former members of Congress and by numerous disability rights organizations that discussed the importance of federal enforcement of the ADA.

The right to bring a claim in a public court of law is essential to maintaining transparency about what occurs in nursing facilities.

CPR and other disability organizations filed an amicus brief in litigation challenging the new "public charge" rule, which would prevent people with disabilities from entering this country or becoming legal residents, alleging illegal disability discrimination.

On June 21, 2019, the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico gave its final approval to a new Settlement Agreement in the longstanding community integration case, Jackson v. Los Lunas.